Heating mascara applicators have only recently begun to appear on the market, and their presence in the marketplace may grow significantly in years to come. In co-pending application U.S. Ser. No. 12/980,526, we explained that one impediment to market acceptance is lack of familiarity with heated mascara application, and we described a system for sampling a heated product at a store counter. In the present application we tackle another impediment to market acceptance; the problem of product dry-out as a result of repeated exposure to heat. Full size, salable mascara products may typically supply about 4 g to about 10 g of mascara. If a single use includes making up two eyes, then many full size saleable mascara products are used 100 times or more, before being discarded. However, it has been observed that after tens of uses, a heated applicator can cause the formula in the reservoir to dry out, rendering the mascara unusable. Furthermore, residual product that remains on the applicator head also dries out, and builds up on the working surface of the applicator. After just tens of uses of the applicator, this build up of dried out material interferes with the performance of the applicator. Thus, the customer is frustrated, and the benefits of a heated mascara have not been realized.
The problems just described are not limited to mascara. Any product that utilizes a heated applicator to deliver the formula may be degraded by too much exposure to heat. What is still needed then, is a way to provide a consumer with a saleable amount of cosmetic or personal care product for use with a heated applicator, while avoiding the problems associated with heat exposure in the reservoir and on the applicator head. The present invention overcomes these problems of heat exposure by incorporating certain improvements into the sampling technology previously described in co-pending application U.S. Ser. No. 12/980,526.